The clashes followed violent street protests Wednesday that left three people dead after a bank was firebombed.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrials dropped plunged 1,000 points in less than half an hour partly on fears that Greece's debt problems could halt the global economic recovery. The Dow managed to recover two-thirds of its losses and close down 347 at 10,520.

Greek lawmakers voted 172-121 to approve the austerity measures — worth about $38 billion through 2012 — that will slash pensions and civil servants' pay and further hike consumer taxes.

The rescue loans are aimed at containing the debt crisis and keeping Greece's troubles from spreading to other countries with vulnerable state finances such as Portugal and Spain. The money will come from the International Monetary Fund and the 15 other governments whose countries use the euro.

Fears of Greek default have undermined the euro, and while the current package should keep Greece from immediate bankruptcy, its long-term prospects are unclear. The country's growth prospects are weak, and the population's willingness to accept cutbacks may wane, leading some economists to predict an eventual debt restructuring somewhere down the road.

Opposition parties lambasted the government for imposing measures that are too harsh for the population to bear.

"The dose of the medicine you are administering is in danger of killing the patient," conservative opposition leader Antonis Samaras said.

Tear gas firedClashes in Athens broke out at the end of a main protest that drew tens of thousands of people as police pushed back a few thousand demonstrators outside parliament.

Video: If Greece goes, so goes the Euro
The violence was quickly contained with riot police firing tear gas at the protesters, who had earlier pelted them with stones, oranges and bottles. Several small fires burned in surrounding streets. No injuries or arrests were reported.

Prime Minister George Papandreou expelled three Socialist deputies who dissented in the vote, reducing the party's number of seats to 157 in the 300-member parliament.

"We have done what was necessary, not what was easy," Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou said after the vote. "Without these measures, we'd be thrown into the deepest recession this country has ever known."

Samaras also expelled a dissenting lawmaker, former Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis, reducing his share of parliamentary seats to 90.

The bulk of Thursday's protest — organized by the Greek Communist Party — quickly dispersed, leaving about 5,000 demonstrators outside parliament before police pushed them back.

Brink of bankruptcyProtester Thodoris Mougiakos said he was angry the IMF would control Greek finances.

"It's blackmail," the 32-year-old engineer said. "There is money, but they spend it on things like armaments and businesses. The church has money too. If we had been drawing money from all these sources, we wouldn't be in this situation now,"

But the protest remained peaceful, in contrast with Wednesday's rioting that left three people dead, 59 injured and 25 people arrested. Police said 50 stores, banks and offices were damaged and seven vehicles damaged or burned.

Video: Portugal's economy next to fail?
Papaconstantinou said Greece would default on debt payments this month unless it received the bailout loans from the International Monetary Fund and 15 euro-zone countries that had remained divided for months on how to aid Athens.

"Today things are simple. Either we vote and implement the deal, or we condemn Greece to bankruptcy," Papandreou told parliament before the vote.

"Some people want that, and are speculating (on it), and hope that it will happen," he said, referring to speculative attacks that have been blamed for raising Greece's borrowing costs to unsustainable levels. "We, I, will not allow that. We will not allow speculation against our country, and bankruptcy to happen."

European governments are now scrambling to get parliamentary approval for the Greek loans. European leaders will meet on the issue in Brussels on Friday.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Video: Fear over Greece’s debt crisis spreads

Transcript of: Fear over Greece’s debt crisis spreads

BRIAN WILLIAMS, anchor:And again, the backdrop for part of this for
Wall Street
was
Greece
. Like a lot of nations, they've been living on borrowed money. Now the bill's coming due. Parliament there voted for tough cuts today. Protesters took to the streets again. The worry is the debt crisis starts to spread like a
daisy chain
across
Europe
and it splashes back here, affecting the US recovery.
CNBC
's
Carl Quintanilla
is in
Athens
tonight.
Carl
, do we have that about right?

CARL QUINTANILLA reporting:That's about right,
Brian
. Try to imagine
Greece
like a subprime homeowner, only country sized. They owe more than they can afford, they're getting bailed out. But these protests
today show
that the conditions of the bailout are so unpopular --
raising taxes
, cutting spending -- that a lot of those measures might not stick. That's making investors leery about lending to any

country that's anywhere near the same boat:Spain, Portugal, Italy. If that river of lending dries up,
Brian
,
Europe
could find itself back in the same
credit crisis
it was in about a year and a half ago. And, of course, the darkest fear is they drag down the
US economy
, really the US recovery, right along with it.

WILLIAMS:All right.
Carl Quintanilla
covering this part of the story in
Athens
for us tonight.